Tennessee voices: We can't keep ignoring death penalty's failings

9:58 PM,
Nov. 24, 2013

Robert C. Goodrich Jr.

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Robert C. Goodrich Jr.

In 1987, former Williamson County, Texas, District Attorney Ken Anderson, who later became a Texas judge, withheld exculpatory evidence in the murder trial of Michael Morton. Anderson's evidence-tampering was a crime, and in that case it was a crime that resulted in Morton serving 25 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. DNA evidence eventually proved Morton's innocence. For his crime Anderson was sentenced to 10 days in prison, was fined $500 and was required to do 500 hours of community service.